Here's "wall street analyst" Erin Burnett just a few minutes later talking about the layoff announcements today:

Burnett: It is pretty concerning because when you look at that stimulus plan you could be looking at somewhere between 800 and 900 billion dollars spent and how quickly are you gonna get job announcements, job creation out of that bill. That is a big question right now on Wall Street.

O'Donnell: Yeah, and I know Democrats and President Obama's team using that to make that argument that we've got to get this done quickly.

There is some good news out there about the housing market.

Burnett: Yes there was, and this is funny, I guess it's the world we're in right now Norah. This is going to sound horrible but it's actually better news than expected. Home prices were down 15% from a year ago, but existing home sales overall were up, and what really sticks out here was inventory, how much of the stuff we've got to work through before we are to get back to a healthy market. We saw a big drop there, we have 9.3 months of inventory which means at the current selling rate it would take 9.3 months to actually work through everything but that is a big improvement from where we were just a month ago.

So there are a few signs of improvement, raising to some the question of how big and how quick this stimulus actually needs to be to stimulate. The economy's trying to turn itself around.

She's an expert on finance donthcha know. Take this brilliant observation:

I think people should be careful what they wish for on China. You know, if China were to revalue its currency or China is to start making, say, toys that don't have lead in them or food that isn't poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up, and that means prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up, too. So I would say China is our greatest friend right now. They're keeping prices low and they're keeping prices for mortgages low, too.

"In the longer term, are you willing to stand up and say, 'Hey, America, your pensions are going to be smaller, your Medicare benefits are going to be lower, your Social Security retirement age is going to go way up and your benefits are going to go lower even if you paid in?'Are we at the point where the government has to say, 'These are painful facts, and we might lose re-election by telling you, but we're going to telling you the truth?'"

Say what you will about Summers, but this was an awesome retort:

"Erin," replied Summers, "listening to you, it sounds like it's an exercise in sadism, who can cause the most pain."